Do you know what's in your parent's SDB? (Updated 4/17, quarter/halves added...)
BackroadJunkie
Posts: 3,745 ✭✭✭✭✭
(Skip to the next post if you don't wan to read the background to the story...)
So, it's tax time, and I was going over my Mom's finances. Again. I actually looked at her SDB deductions from her account, and she had three of them. I only knew of one.
"What's in the SDB's?" I ask her.
"I don't know," she responds. Well, she's over 90 and can't remember what she had for lunch (or what day of the week it is for that matter), so I'm not really surprised...
With a little effort, I get access to all her SDB's. Her main box has some stuff that's worthless (A roll of Sacabucks, bicentennial clad Ike dollars, quite a few beat up silver certificates and a few two dollar bills.) Some stuff is outdated, like my Dad's legal papers, such as his power of attorney. (He's been dead for 17 years.) There's even a couple of different Olympic Commem sets, and some Whitman coin folders. It's the other two boxes that's a mystery.
Over the past couple of years, I've been cashing in all my Dad's Bi-Centennial quarters. A couple thousand dollars worth. I've always sorta asked, "Why couldn't you have done this with silver?" Well, he may have.
One mystery SDB is empty. The other half filled with junk silver. So Mom's been renting an empty SDB for the past couple of decades. I suspect they were both filled with silver at one time, and my Dad sold some off. It would explain the toys my Dad was able to buy later in life on a fixed income. He just never closed the box.
Now, Dad was a pharmacist, so part of his job was working a cash register, and all sorts of money passed through his hands. In the mid-60's, he socked away some silver. It wasn't a numismatic endeavor, it was to save the coins as silver. (This I assume, since he taped together rolls of halves and quarters with masking tape before wrapping them in paper. Tape does nasty things after a few decades.)
I consolidated all of it into one SDB and retired the other two. Spent a couple of days at the bank to take inventory, and took some pictures (see note below) of the coins to see if there's anything worth something.
So far, just common coins. Well, it is 90%, so there is that. But here's the breakdown of the coins...
Dollars:
10 Peace
52 Morgans
Halves:
225 '64 Kennedy's
3 40% Kennedy's
3 Barbers
20 Walkers
15 Franklins
8 Bookers
Quarters:
over 400 90% Washington quarters
38 SLQ's
9 Barbers
Dimes:
65 90% Roosevelts
30 90% Roosies in folder
24 Mercs
Nickels:
30 Liberty Head
39 Buffs w/date
27 Buffs wo/date
There are also a few Indian Head and old Lincoln cents I haven't looked at yet.
All were pulled from circulation, and they show it. The taped together junk silver are almost all the 90% Kennedy halves and Washington quarters, probably pulled from circulation after 1963.
Almost all the others are from the Whitman folders. If I had to guess, these coins were pulled from circulation between the mid-50's to mid-60's. Except for the dollars, the older the coins, the more marginal their condition.
None of these coins have seen the light of day in 50 years, and might be representative of what you could pull from circulation in the 1950's. It was major fun to play with them. 
About the images:
The color is not representative. I couldn't get a decent white balance from the light in those dismal rooms in the SDB vault. The florescent tubes were either burning out, or there were different temperature lights in the fixtures. I tried to do a manual white balance, and the color would strobe between green and magenta. Go figure.
I did not take individual images. 4 dollars, 9 halves, 16 quarter/nickles/dimes/cents (in a square pattern) were shot at one time. The pictures were just to see what's in the box, so they were mostly quick set up shots.
Comments
Dollars:
Best Morgans:
Of course a lot look like this:
Best Peace (all of them were '22, '23 or '24's. Nice adhesive residue on one of the '23's...):
Nickels:
Best Liberty Heads:
Best Buff (and of course, there's tape residue on it):
Here's a couple of cool things. I remember these "savings" books when I was a kid. I wonder how many of these still exist.
Of course the best thing about it, is it's filled with 90% dimes.
There was also this. There's small lettering that says "HH 9999", but I doubt it's silver. It's in a sealed flip, I have no idea where it came from, or who issued it:
I'll post more if there's a demand...
Neat story,
My parents were planners. They knew there would come a time where they may pass or have other health challenges. So they put their affairs in order (powers of attorney, deeds, wills, DNR's etc etc) but also wrote down what was in the SDB so the heirs knew. No funny business that way.
Heck, they even planned their funeral services right down to what scripture would be read and what hymns to sing.
This was a gift from them that we all appreciated. I've done the same for my heirs. There is enough stress and chaos when one passes - these plans were a godsend when the time came.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
Forgot to mention. I also used those dime savers when I was a kid. Too bad I deposited the dimes in my account so I could earn a few percent interest instead of saving the silver dimes.......
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
Nice story. I enjoyed it.
It took me awhile to figure out what "SDB" was. (I'm slow). I kinda thought it might have meant that the coins were stored in a Daunless Dive Bomber.
But the I realized that it was not called an "SDB" , it was an "SBD".
I apologize.
Pete
Great story.... that tape residue will come off with acetone and not affect the coins. Nice stack of WLH's... one of my favorite coins. Cheers, RickO
I dont even know what's in my own box!
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
This is really cool. Chicago too.
POST NUBILA PHOEBUS / AFTER CLOUDS, SUN
Love for Music / Collector of Dreck
My mother had a 1987 US Constitution commemorative coin set ($1, $5) in her safe deposit box.
She was not a coin collector and my sister and I could not figure out how it got there.
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
Coins on Television
My parents?
Just dust
BHNC #203
No Safety Deposit box for my folks but we had a "Forbidden cabinet" crammed with Granny's silver. All from the 1930s to 40s, marked Sanborn. An insane amount of silver. Trays, water pitchers, tea services, ladles, candelabras, and 20 dinner plates, each weighing over 13 ounces. Forks and knives and spoons and golf trophies, baby cups, salt cellars and sugar bowls. I'm not even sure how to weigh that much stuff. All 6 kids agreed to leave the collection intact and not sell off any, which is pretty amazing.
My parents never had a safe deposit box. They didn't have any thing of value to put in one. They didn't have "Two nickels to rub together or a pot to p**s in." But we had everything we needed. Life was good back then. It still is. HAPPY EASTER!
You said it all.............
Pete
Backroadjunkie: I'd be thrilled to find similar contents to what you've described - - just for the chance to hunt thru them & to have a bit more of history in my hands! Congrats on the detective work! I remember those dime-saver folders from when I was a kid as well, just wish I'd saved them vs turned them into the bank when filled...........
I also remember the days when I worked retail management, and was responsible for all the tills - - harvested a decent number of silver certificates & coins from that time in my life, filling a lot of holes in my Whitman folders.
I wish I'd been born just a tad earlier to appreciate & accumulate silver dollars as well. Never got them in change, but have built up a small number in Whitman folders over time. Unfortunately, many of them are along the same level as that 1899-S in your picture.
I've left a list of everything in our SDB, so the kids know what's there & how to access it when the time comes.
I've always assumed it was their honeymoon sex tapes...8 mm, of course.
Honestly, most of my family members had stuff in a safety deposit box that wasn't worth keeping their. Usually "important papers" which could just as easily be stored more cheaply and conveniently in a fire safe at home.
My great Aunt Lillian didn't bother to tell anyone she even had one. She ended up with Alzheimers and we know that memory goes away. She passed, house and belongings sold my my Mother (executrix after three trips and visits to a judge). Never found a key or paperwork indicating a box.. She had worked for the same Tacoma Bank for over 60 years. Finally 5 years after her death, a notice is put in a local paper by the bank looking for relatives (the bank knew my Mother, personally, as she too had an account there for many years). Well, just dumb luck someone notified our family of the ad as they recognized Aunt Lil's name.
We contacted the state of Washington and sure enough they were trying to reach us......oh yeah.
Well, long story short is it had a little over $8,000 in gold coin in the box. The state rather than holding the coin decided to sell the coin and just put the funds into the state coffers for us . Nice, real nice. The sold the $8k coins for face value. My family got the $8,000 via check. Real nice of them, eh?
Kinda wish we'd never been informed. But, according to the State AG it was legal to do so as holding the contents requires storage space and the banks are not required to store the contents.
bob
My parents have important papers plus 5 ounces of gold. I don't think they will ever sell it. I've tried to get them to sell it and enjoy the proceeds but they just shake their head and say they like knowing they have it in the SDB.
@BackroadJunkie thank you for sharing. That is quite an impressive accumulation of coins and the savings folder brings back memories.
@AUandAG that is an amazing story and I can feel your pain. What were they thinking? Or should I say, they weren't thinking or the people from the state ended up with the gold at face. Grrrrrr
That was an exciting read. I'd enjoy seeing more if you get time.
"A dog breaks your heart only one time and that is when they pass on". Unknown
Excellent story.Thanks for sharing.
SUPERB story.
Thank you for sharing.
Possible to keep all? If not, keep the best of the lot and sell the rest.
I believe I would have to inquire a bit further as to the disposition of said Gold Coins. I smell a crooked Rat Big Time!Uunless it was pre 1950 which I doubt)
Oh you bet we did. Turns out that the bank had an annual SDB sale once a year and only bank employees were allowed to view and bid. This was about 1988 (the sale) and about 1993 the newspaper ad. The policy probably continues until today. Got nowhere with the law. State or local. No accounting of dates or denominations just a $8,000 value at face. It was determined that the bank had no responsibility to preserve or store the contents.
At least I never found out what gems or clinkers were in there. No info on them.
bob
Laugh. Double laugh. Triple laugh!
Hmmmmm, might have been before they were married?
bob
What is that patent number?
My Type Set & My Complete Proof Nickel Set!
Neat story. My parents never had a SDB, so I won't find anything like this.
It must of been cool to go through the stuff.
Thanks for sharing the story.
Donato
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
Successful transactions: Shrub68 (Jim), MWallace (Mike)
To be fair, dimes had actual buying power back then. Not sure about today. I think even the last gumball machine I saw was a quarter.
But I'm glad Mom or Dad saved one. I think I even remember LaSalle's lobby. Shows I haven't killed all those brain cells, yet.
(I'm sure I remember nickel saver books too. I think there was even one for quarters...)
You're right. I never said Safety Deposit Box by name once, lol.
That's why I'm not a journalist. I just assume everyone else knows what I'm talking about.
Very cool story!! Thank you for sharing.
Yep, it was really fun to play with that much silver. I have to say, having a stack of 200+ '64 Kennedy's or 400+ 90% quarters in front of you was awesome. Made nice noises, too, unlike today's clad...
It was like Christmas in March! Heh...
I was surprised some of the dollars were in as good a shape as they were, considering the condition of lower denomination coins. Especially the SLQ's. (I'll post some pictures when I have the time. )
Yeah, so do I, because, well, computers. If I was keeping a handwritten list, it probably would have been outdated in say, the year 2000...
Well,they're not mine. Of course, if I ask Mom, she'll probably say, "Go ahead and take it," but she's on a fixed income. Then too, I subsidize her meds, so maybe I'll buy it was a "family" discount.
At least now I know what she has, so I'll come to some sort of decision on what to do with all of it.
2,835,438
Might be fun to once again fill those Whitman folders vs keep them rolled/taped-up, and see how close they come to being completed from circulation.
Quarters
Ah, now that all of my (and Mom's) tax/financial crap is out of the way, I'm back on this horde... (Well, it's a horde to me.
) See first post for the story behind this...
LOL, this hit my OCD. Below is the reason why I'd never by a $1000 face bag of junk silver. Even though it's be full of trash coins, I'd end up sorting it all out.
There might have been some SLQ's between '16 and '25 in those 14 dateless quarters.
There were 174 '64 quarters, but didn't break it down between Philly and Denver, because... reasons!
Images follow...
Liberty Head Quarters:
Earliest:
Probably the best two:
The best SLQ's:
This might be my favorite (date still legible):
And one of the 14 that has the most history...
Halves
Best Liberty Head:
Best Walkers:
This might be my personal favorite. Lowest grade. date readable...
Most of the Franklins were of the NBL (No bell line) variety, but this '63 stuck out. Looks like somethings going on on the reverse, though...
And of all the Kennedy's, this one stuck out. It's a proof, I think. Either that or a PL business strike...
And they had 8 Bookers...
And another could of odd things:
1965 Churchill Great Britain Crown. They had three of these. Talk about poor strikes...
And an Apollo 13 coin. From the Emirate of Fujairah...
After my mother passed I emptied her safe she had in her walk in closet but in between the small stuffed dolls she kept for the grandchildren were two tall coffee jars of 90% silver with 2 $20 pieces sitting on 5 100 oz. bars of silver.
We (4 brothers) were aware that the safe would have jewelry and silver dad (passed 20 years prior) had saved but very surprised that mom had that much in all ($45K for each of us).
The only items other than common 90% silver were a couple of later proof Franklins from the 60's that appeared to have been in circulation.
Closest thing my parents had to a SDB was the Credit Union they managed.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
Yup....B. D. Cooper.
All my parents left me was alone.
Check out my current listings: https://ebay.com/sch/khunt/m.html?_ipg=200&_sop=12&_rdc=1
given the cost of renting three SDB's for three decades and the net from what is in them now it seems like a wash and a poor decision to have even rented them. it should be a reminder to all of us to stay connected to your collection, especially if it is essentially "bullion/junk silver" like this. it should have been cleaned out back in 2012 which is when I got rid of the last of my stuff at about 45 x face. not only that, but you would have saved your Mom the rental fee for those years.
SDB's are a good option in some regards but I don't think they are the best option for storing papers and records.
my "collection disconnect" story is that my modest collection and junk silver accumulation went into hiding when I enlisted in 1975. I moved it a few times(moved the boxes would be a better description) but never really remembered I had it until about mid-2000. I found it in the back of a closet and came back into the Hobby.
one of the first things I did was sell all the junk silver at about 5 x face, having missed the Hunt Brothers run when I could have gotten 30+.
Did you read the original post? This wasn't a "collection". Mom didn't even know what was in them, Dad did, and he died pretty suddenly 17 years ago and never bothered to tell me. If he had both those boxes full of 90%, then yeah, he probably needed 'em. But I don't know the story behind those two mystery SD boxes.
I've taken over all of her finances, and the SDB statement from her bank was only a line item, until I looked deeper into it. Granted, I probably should have taken a closer look a decade ago, but I didn't even think about it. Hence, the title of this thread.
On the other hand, for me, it did have a silver lining. I don't think I've ever fondled that much old silver at one time. (By that I mean hands on, touch as much as you want fondling...)
Thanks for sharing, BRJ. Those coins look exactly like what you would've pulled from circulation or from a bank in 1963 or so. I used to occasionally get a Buffalo nickel in change or when searching rolls back then. And I remember those savings cards as well. Good stuff.
And Bob, this serves as a good reminder not to trust the banks, and that anything in a SDB needs to be well-documented in papers that reside outside of the box and kept as part of "the list".
Along with other important papers such as a will and titles, I keep my original receipts for significant coin or bullion purchases in a SDB as well.
The thing about safe deposit boxes is that it takes time & effort to maintain them, but don't forget the reasons you have one. Good reminders in this thread.
I knew it would happen.
A friend of mine found over $22k in 90% junk silver in his dad's SDB. He would not sell any to me when silver was $10, $20, $30,$40, or almost $50 per ounce. All I asked is if he would let me search some. The answer was "No". Some friend.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
Can't wait for the breakdown of the halves & dollars!!
Out of curiosity, did the Bookers ever circulate, or just in special sets? 
But the main point Keets was making is still valid - that the cost for renting an SDB to store this stuff cannot be substantiated. Sell the stuff and be done with it.
Horde?
horde.
[hôrd]
NOUN
1.
derogatory
a large group of people.
"he was surrounded by a horde of tormenting relatives"
synonyms: group · gang · mob · pack · troop · troupe · company · party · bevy ·
[more]
•an army or tribe of nomadic warriors.
"Tartar hordes"
synonyms: crowd · large group · mob · pack · gang · troop · army · swarm ·
[more]
Try:
Hoard:
hoard.
[hôrd]
NOUN
1.a stock or store of money or valued objects, typically one that is secret or carefully guarded.
"he came back to rescue his little hoard of gold"
synonyms: cache · stockpile · stock · store · collection · supply · reserve · reservoir ·
[more]
BHNC #203